The compact disc dramatically increased the possibilities of the boxed set, which — depending on your perspective — stands as one of the great cultural achievements of our age or one of its more persistent annoyances.
At its best, the boxed set certainly shed light on the work of forgotten masters, such as Herbie Nichols, whose unabashedly idiosyncratic pianism richly deserved rehearing and re-evaluation.
But the icons — and their enthusiasts — also benefited from the avalanche of boxed sets, with artists as familiar as Frank Sinatra, Billie Holiday and Duke Ellington open to new scrutiny and analysis, their most obscure or overlooked work suddenly restored to pristine condition.
Granted, many of the boxed sets released today are superfluous, while definitive sets have yet to be released for everyone from Jelly Roll Morton to Wayne Shorter.
Yet the following 20 boxed sets deepened our understanding of jazz history and heightened our appreciation of the work of its greatest artists.
Louis Armstrong: “The Complete Hot Five and Hot Seven Recordings” (Columbia/Legacy, four CDs).
Between 1925 and 1929, Armstrong — through sheer force of personality and brilliance of technique — transformed jazz into a soloist’s art, his indelible flights recorded with his Hot Five and Hot Seven bands. Though these cuts previously had been released in various forms, this set gathered in one beautifully produced boxed set the entire oeuvre, including such indelible tracks as “Potato Head Blues,” “West End Blues” and Weather Bird.” Jazz soloists long have used Armstrong’s 1920s recordings (most made in and around Chicago) as a benchmark for succinct improvisation; this boxed set showed why.
“Jelly Roll Morton: 1926-1930” (JSP Records, five CDs).
Various boxed sets have addressed particular facets of Morton’s work, but none comes close to the sonic clarity of this British-issued release, focusing on Morton’s music with his Red Hot Peppers. Though American listeners may be more familiar with RCA’s “Jelly Roll Morton Centennial: His Complete Victor Recordings,” the JSP set revealed sonic details and subtleties of voicing that are lost on the RCA set (and most others). Yes, Morton made fascinating recordings before 1926 and after 1930, but this boxed set captured his work as composer-bandleader at its pinnacle.
Duke Ellington: “The Duke Ellington Centennial Edition: The Complete RCA Victor Recordings (1927-1973)” (RCA Victor, 24 CDs).
Casual listeners may think of Ellington as a tunesmith par excellence, but “The Duke Ellington Centennial Edition” dramatically showed the depth and range of one of the most monumental careers in 20th Century music. Here were exquisite, early-period miniatures such as “Black and Tan Fantasy” and “East St. Louis Toodle-o,” jazz-band tours de force such as “Rockin’ in Rhythm” and “Cottontail,” orchestral statements such as “Black, Brown and Beige,” and sacred and theatrical music, as well.
Charlie Parker: “The Complete Savoy & Dial Studio Recordings, 1944-48” (Savoy, eight CDs).
Though connoisseurs have debated the value of pitch correction on some tracks, overall there’s no mistaking Bird’s phenomenal virtuosity, harmonic daring and blues-tinged spirit in period anthems such as “Billie’s Bounce,” “Now’s the Time” and “Scrapple from the Apple.”
Benny Goodman, “The Famous 1938 Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert” (Columbia/Legacy, two CDs).
Every jazz lover knows that Goodman’s historic Carnegie Hall concert reached a climax with a stunning, extended version of “Sing, Sing, Sing,” but this beautifully produced package re-created the event more fully than ever. In addition to the stage commentary, the two-CD set included previously unreleased cuts from the historic performance, such as a Fletcher Henderson arrangement of “Don’t Be That Way,” an Edgar Sampson orchestration of “If Dreams Come True” and a jam session on “Honeysuckle Rose.”
Miles Davis: “The Complete Live at the Plugged Nickel, 1965” (Columbia/Legacy, seven CDs).
There’s no shortage of fine boxed sets devoted to Davis’ music, but the “Live at the Plugged Nickel” sessions stood out for the sheer creativity of the interchange among the players. Leading his second great quintet (with tenor saxophonist Wayne Shorter, pianist Herbie Hancock, bassist Ron Carter and drummer Tony Williams), Davis was in the midst of forging a distinctive improvisatory language during the two nights of this engagement. John Coltrane, “The Classic Quartet — Complete Impulse Studio Recordings” (Impulse).
“The Classic Quartet” stands out because it brings together studio work Coltrane recorded from 1961-65 with pianist McCoy Tyner, drummer Elvin Jones and (as of 1962) bassist Jimmy Garrison. Listen to this music unfold — in chronological sequence — and you can hear Coltrane evolve from accomplished interpreter of popular tunes to profound composer of African-inspired originals, from performer of 32-bar miniatures to visionary composer of vast, extended suites.
“Ella Fitzgerald: Early Years, Part 1 and Part 2” (Decca/GRP, four CDs).
Fitzgerald began her career with a modest instrument, a rudimentary jazz technique and a limited vocal range. You could hear as much in cuts such as “I’ll Chase the Blues Away” and “Rhythm and Romance,” recorded when Fitzgerald was a teenager and decades removed from the vocal triumphs of the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s. Only an artist of tremendous intellectual curiosity and daring could have turned the modest achievements of the “Early Years” into the immortal “Song Book” CDs that were yet to come.
“The Complete Ella Fitzgerald Song Books” (Verve, nine CDs).
Here is Fitzgerald at the top of her game, ennobling music by Cole Porter, the Gershwins, Harold Arlen and other master songwriters. Though the “Song Book” CDs are well worth acquiring individually, the boxed set included several previously unreleased tracks, such as “You’re the Top,” “I Concentrate on You” and “Let’s Do It” from the Porter book.
“The Complete Billie Holiday on Verve, 1945-1959,” (Verve, 10 CDs).
Conventional wisdom long held that Holiday achieved her greatest work in the 1930s, when her voice was young and her body and spirit undamaged by drugs and personal torment. But this revelatory boxed set proved conventional wisdom wrong, showing that Holiday achieved some of her greatest work toward the end. The incomparable sorrow she expressed on “One for My Baby” and “Body and Soul” (both recorded in 1957) and the ineffably poetic sighs she produced on “Willow Weep for Me” (with Harry “Sweets” Edison answering in kind, also in 1957), brought jazz singing to new interpretive level. Ornette Coleman: “Beauty Is a Rare Thing/The Complete Atlantic Recordings” (Rhino, six CDs).
Widely deemed anarchic (and worse) at the time, Coleman’s inventions not only led to new vistas in “Free Jazz” (as one of his seminal works was titled) but also to a vibrant melodicism that often had been lacking in the bebop showpieces of his youth. To behold Coleman’s serenely understated, stripped-down lines on alto saxophone answered by Don Cherry’s trumpet, Charlie Haden’s bass and Ed Blackwell’s and Billy Higgins’ drums is to hear the start of a revolution.
“The Complete Capitol Recordings of Woody Herman” (Mosaic, six CDs).
Herman achieved enormous popularity with his First Herd, but it was with his Second and Third Herds that he stretched out musically, buoyed by such estimable players as Shorty Rogers, Conte Candoli, Zoot Sims, Stan Getz, Cy Touff and Serge Chaloff, among others. Add to this Herman’s extraordinary virtuosity as clarinetist, and there’s little mystery as to why Herman’s Herds still are revered by serious listeners. (Not available in stores; to order, contact Mosaic Records, 35 Melrose Place, Stamford, CT 06902; phone 203-327-7111).
Frank Sinatra: “Concepts” (Capitol, 16 CDs).
“Concepts,” which collected all of Sinatra’s Capitol recordings into one box, documented the stylistic breadth of Sinatra in the ’50s. From the sublime balladry of “Where Are You?” to the robust swing rhythms of “Come Dance With Me” to the soaring lines of “Come Fly With Me,” the man was at his best, on purely vocal terms. “Concepts” also included “Tone Poems,” the 1957 suite of orchestral vignettes that Sinatra himself conducted.
Various artists: “Central Avenue Sounds: Jazz in Los Angeles, 1921-1956” (Rhino, four CDs).
As its title suggested, the set documented the music that sprang up around Los Angeles’ Central Avenue, which was the central corridor of the city’s black jazz scene. Though they came from New Orleans, artists such as trombonist Kid Ory (recording with his Sunshine Orchestra in 1922) and Jelly Roll Morton (cutting solo and ensemble dates in 1923) laid the groundwork for the West Coast scene. Eventually, artists such as Louis Armstrong, Art Tatum, Lionel Hampton, Nat “King” Cole, Charlie Parker and Charles Mingus made important stopovers in L.A., while giants such as Benny Carter and Gerald Wilson made California their home and, therefore, a thriving focal point for jazz in America.
Artie Shaw, “Self Portrait” (Bluebird, five CDs).
One of the great intellectuals in jazz, Shaw was in a class by himself as clarinet virtuoso, composer, bandleader and theorist, each facet of his art vividly documented on this set. From the orchestral ambitions of his Concerto for Clarinet to the harmonic innovations of his Gramercy 5 ensemble to the enormous popularity of his hit recording of “Begin the Beguine,” Shaw found no challenge too formidable, yet at the height of his fame, he quit the music business. Despite the truncated nature of his career, it still represents a major contribution to the recorded history of jazz, as this set reaffirmed.
“The Art Ensemble” (Nessa Records, five CDs).
Before it became world-famous as The Art Ensemble of Chicago, this landmark band went by a shorter name and, from 1967-68, invented a new musical language steeped in the rituals of ancient Africa and in the recent breakthroughs of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM). This boxed set, then, captured the new idiom nearly at its inception, with Roscoe Mitchell, Lester Bowie, Joseph Jarman and Malachi Favors discovering on these tracks the expressive and sonic possibilities of bells, whistles, microtonal pitches, chants and the like.
“The Complete Atlantic Recordings of Lennie Tristano, Lee Konitz & Warne Marsh” (Mosaic, six CDs).
In addition to fleshing out Tristano’s frustratingly erratic discography, the set showed the harmonic point of departure for reedists and Tristano disciples Konitz and Marsh. Together, these artists in effect offered a tenable alternative to the “free jazz” explorations of Ornette Coleman and his followers. Like all Mosaic sets, this one is available only by mail: Write Mosaic Records, 35 Melrose Place, Stamford, CN 06902.
Herbie Nichols: “The Complete Blue Note Recordings” (Blue Note, three CDs).
Jazz devotees have been rediscovering pianist Nichols in recent years, thanks largely to this overdue boxed set. At first hearing, listeners might have been startled by the odd chord progressions, strange rhythms, unusual voicings and peculiar development of ideas that were Nichols’ hallmarks.
Dexter Gordon: “The Complete Blue Note Sixties Sessions” (Blue Note, six CDs).
Before drug addiction and its attendant physical travails diminished tenor saxophonist Gordon’s work, he created landmark albums such as “Go” and “Clubhouse,” which are included here, along with several previously unreleased cuts. In sum, the famous and newly released cuts in this set showed Gordon at his creative and technical peak, collaborating with no less than Freddie Hubbard, Sonny Stitt, Bud Powell and Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen.
Wynton Marsalis Septet: “Live at the Village Vanguard” (Columbia Jazz, seven CDs).
Many listeners consider Marsalis’ septet the best jazz band of the late 1980s and early 1990s, as well as one of the most expressive acoustic ensembles ever convened, and “Live at the Village Vanguard” proved the point. Though the band turned in superior studio work on boxed sets such as “In This House, On this Morning” and “Soul Gestures in Southern Blue,” the Village Vanguard set showed the degree of technical acuity and the control of color and voicing that these players could achieve live.
